Loyalty Across Apps, Social, and Consumer Experience

“ This conversation today has really sparked me to try and light a fire for this whole app program because I think we’re missing out. Tom Bachrodt , Regional Manager, HJB Convenience Corporation

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“ Social media can spark fans and advocates. Apps can enable new behaviors at the pump, in the store or at the car wash, which means marketing and IT leaders need to be working together to connect those dots so your competitor doesn’t capture that influence. Ed Collupy , Principal, Collupy System Solutions LLC and CTVG Facilitator

“ I think the app is really where you show the value of choosing to come to your store over others, and social is more where people go to learn about your company, your personality, what you’re doing, what you stand for, that kind of thing. So for us, it’s really two different strategies and I don’t see us bringing social into the app really ever. Andrea Neurohr , VP. Marketing, Coen Markets, LLC “ We were real gung-ho about it [TruAge] and then we reached out to the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission, and they said in the state of Texas, you still have to use a photo ID to purchase alcohol. You can’t use TruAge, so it kind of put the whole kibosh on us for moving forward. Rance Wells , Vice President of IT, Toot’n Totum Food Stores, LLC

“ What we see as a challenge, and I’m sure some of us are in the same boat, is inconsistent message. We’re talking about social media, we’re talking about the app loyalty and the payment. I think to us it feels like it’s disconnected as far as the technology, that we don’t have full visibility of each consumer, whether they’re on our social standpoint until really recently where now we can start looking at creating a true data lake, our own data lake, pulling all these different siloes and repositories into a single data source, and then using platforms like Power BI and Tableau (data visualization platforms) and all these others to create your own insights. Luis Ackerman , Vice President of Technology, The Spinx Company “ What we found is, just being a smaller operator, the technology hasn’t been there for us from a right size or affordability

“ It’s an interesting conversation to say you want convergence of loyalty of a mobile app and social media, but social media is a very unique space, so I think you’ve got to play it carefully.

“ We’re really looking at the change of behavior. We really try to treat loyalty as a profit center on our end. So it really is about driving dollars to the bank. Not to say that there isn’t the focus on the relationship aspect as well, but that’s really where the majority of our focus has been. Ryan Mulka , Loyalty Manager, The Spinx Company

Donnie Rhoads , Director of Business Development, The Convenience Group, LLC

media or app versus in-store. Abhi Patel , VP Info Technology, Operations, Nouria